Winebottler Mac

Winebottler

Winebottler is a malware app that reroutes the users’ browser traffic to sites with promotional content in them. Winebottler infiltrates Mac browsers and installs in them page-redirecting elements that automatically land the user on the sites the hijacker is programmed to advertise.

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Winebottler is a Mac application that falls under the browser-hijacker category because it infiltrates the main browser in the system and introduces unauthorized changes to its settings. The main goal of Winebottler is to artificially boost the traffic to certain sites. Also, hijackers like this one are known for generating ads on the users’ screens in order to generate revenue for their developers. Winebottler is potentially unwanted software that generates revenue by showing Pay-Per-Click ads inside the browsers it infects. Each time an ad shown by Winebottler gets clicked, the creator of the hijacker gets financially rewarded. This is why you will likely see many different banners, box messages, pop-ups, and pop-unders in your browser if this unwanted app has latched onto it. Winebottler is a Mac app solely created to generate advertising revenue and you can’t expect it to provide you with anything useful. Apps like Winebottler and Intorrime.com oftentimes get promoted as helpful browser extensions but, in most cases, they tend to be rather useless. The real problem, however, lies in the fact that the presence of such a hijacker in your computer may expose your system to various forms of harmful programs from the Internet. The hijacker itself isn’t really a very threatening program, but the uncontrolled advertising activities conducted by it may sometimes land you on unsafe sites and pages. This is why you are advised to remove any app that seems to be hijacking your browser. Otherwise, you risk getting your computer targeted by all kinds of highly damaging threats, including Trojans, Worms, and Ransomware.

Winebottler on Mac

Winebottler for Mac is a browser hijacker specifically designed to infiltrate Mac systems and to get installed inside their browsers in order to spam them with various ads. You can get Winebottler for Mac when installing new programs without checking their installers for bundled components.

Once you get the unwanted software installed in the browser, you will likely start seeing various kinds of advertising messages on your screen that seem to appear over the most important areas of the pages you visit. For instance, the ads may cover the videos you are watching or that you are reading. This is all done purposefully and the goal is to get you to click on the advert. As we said above, the ads generated by such hijackers earn pay-per-click revenue and the creators of this type of software greatly benefit from the increased number of clicks on the displayed ads. This is precisely why the program apps like Winebottler to be as intrusive and as invasive as possible.

What is Winebottler?

Winebottler is a special type of page-redirecting software that installs in the main browser of your Mac and reroutes your searches and traffic to pages you weren’t trying to visit. Winebottler is programmed to draw more traffic to these pages.

In addition to showing ads, most browser hijackers also redirect the user to different online locations. In some cases, the hijacker redirects to the site of its creators, while other times there is an agreement between the hijacker developers and some third-parties based on which the hijacker app promotes and draws more traffic to the sites of the third-parties, while the latter pay a commission to the creators of the page-redirecting app. This is, in fact, a very common and widespread business model and people tend to earn a lot of money by applying it. Of course, however, it is the end-users that suffer the most from this sort of advertising schemes. Not only are the ads and the redirects generated by the hijacker extremely irritating, but also such uncontrolled advertising activities may sometimes get one’s computer infected with malicious programs like Trojans, Spyware, Worms, and Ransomware.

The Winebottler app

The Winebottler app is an obtrusive Mac browser extension that will disrupt your browsing by showing ads on each page you visit. The Winebottler app will also redirect your online searches by installing a custom search engine that would replace your browser’s default one. Another change that this app may make in your browser is to replace the homepage address and the address of your new tab page. What this does is it guarantees that each time you start your browser or open a new tab, you would be creating traffic to the sites that are now imposed on your homepage and new tab page. If you want to learn how to deal with all this, check out the guidelines presented below.

SUMMARY:

NameWinebottler
Type Browser Hijacker
Danger LevelMedium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Symptoms Some of the symptoms include the replacement of the browser’s search engine and the frequent redirects to questionable sites.
Distribution MethodThe hijackers usually get distributed alongside other software by being included in the installers of other programs (usually free or cheap ones).
Detection Tool

Remove Winebottler from Mac

For a quick way to remove Winebottler try to do this inside your Mac browser:

  1. Open your Mac browser.
  2. Go to Preferences.
  3. Now navigate to the extensions sub-menu.
  4. Look for any unfamiliar entries, including Winebottler.
  5. Remove Winebottler from your Mac as well as any other suspicious-looking items by clicking on the trash bin icon.

If this does not help then continue reading this article for more detailed instructions on how to get rid of Winebottler!

Step1

The first thing you need to do is to Quit Safari (if it is opened). If you have trouble closing it normally, you may need to Force Quit Safari:

You can choose the Apple menu and click on Force Quit.

Alternatively, you can simultaneously press (the Command key situated next to the space bar), Option (the key right next to it) and Escape (the key located at the upper left corner of your keyboard).

If you have done it right a dialog box titled Force Quit Applications will open up.

In this new dialog window select Safari, then press the Force Quit button, then confirm with Force Quit again.

Close the dialog box/window.

Step2

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Start Activity Monitor by opening up Finder, then proceed to activity-monitor

Once there, look at all the processes: if you believe any of them are hijacking your results, or are part of the problem, highlight the process with your mouse, then click the “i” button at the top. This will open up the following box:

chromeinfo

Now click on Sample at the bottom:

chromesample

Do this for all processes you believe are part of the threat, and run any suspicious files in our online virus scanner, then delete the malicious files:

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    Step3

    The next step is to safely launch Safari again. Press and hold the Shift key while relaunching Safari. This will prevent Safari’s previously opened pages from loading again. Once Safari is opened up, you can release the Shift key.

    On the off chance that you are still having trouble with scripts interrupting the closing of unwanted pages in Safari, you may need to take some additional measures.

    First, Force Quit Safari again.

    Now if you are using a Wi-Fi connection turn it off by selecting Wi-Fi off in you Mac’s Menu. If you are using a cable internet (Ethernet connection), disconnect the Ethernet cable.

    Step4

    Re-Launch Safari but don’t forget to press and hold the Shift button while doing it, so no previous pages can be opened up. Now, Click on Preferences in the Safari menu,

    Preferences in Safari

    and then again on the Extensions tab,

    extensions in safari

    Select and Uninstall any extensions that you don’t recognize by clicking on the Uninstall button. If you are not sure and don’t want to take any risks you can safely uninstall all extensions, none are required for normal system operation.
    Step5

    The threat has likely infected all of your browsers. The instructions below need to be applied for all browsers you are using.

    Again select Preferences in the Safari Menu, but this time click on the Privacy tab,
    Privacy in Safari

    Now click on Remove All Website Data, confirm with Remove Now. Keep in mind that after you do this all stored website data will be deleted. You will need to sign-in again for all websites that require any form of authentication.

    Still in the Preferences menu, hit the General tab

    General Tab in Safari

    Check if your Homepage is the one you have selected, if not change it to whatever you prefer.
    Default Home Page

    Select the History menu this time, and click on Clear History. This way you will prevent accidentally opening a problematic web page again.

    firefox-512 How to Remove Winebottler From Firefox in OSX:

    Open Firefoxclick on mozilla menu (top right) ——-> Add-onsHit Extensions next.

    pic 6

    The problem should be lurking somewhere around here –  Remove it. Then Refresh Your Firefox Settings.


    chrome-logo-transparent-backgroundHow to Remove Winebottler From Chrome in OSX:

     Start Chrome, click chrome menu icon —–>More Tools —–> Extensions. There,  find the malware and  select  chrome-trash-icon.

    pic 8

     Click chrome menu icon again, and proceed to Settings —> Search, the fourth tab, select Manage Search Engines.  Delete everything but the search engines you normally use. After that Reset Your Chrome Settings.

    If the guide doesn’t help, download the anti-virus program we recommended or try our free online virus scanner. Also, you can always ask us in the comments for help!


    About the author

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    Brandon Skies

    Brandon is a researcher and content creator in the fields of cyber-security and virtual privacy. Years of experience enable him to provide readers with important information and adequate solutions for the latest software and malware problems.

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